LG 47LX6900 - 3D Functionality

Summary

Our Score

7/10

User Score

Review Price £1,055.00

Turning to the 47LX6900's key 3D functionality, the 3D transmitter comes built into the screen, and you get a single pair of active shutter glasses included for free. Ideally we would have liked to get two pairs of glasses given that 3D is supposed to be a social medium, but then we guess that might be asking a bit too much for the sort of deflated price we've found the 47LX6900 going for.

Two final things we should mention before getting into the 47LX6900's picture performance are 1) that it boasts LG's outstanding onscreen menu system and a decent remote control, and 2) that our set bizarrely refused to play a picture from our Xbox 360 console. This latter issue is surely just an issue specific to our review sample, but if any 47LX6900 owners have experienced the same problem, feel free to say so in the Comments section!

The quality of the 47LX6900's performance relative to its peers varies depending on whether you're watching 3D or 2D. And regular readers will probably be able to guess which one fares the best.

The unfortunate if hardly unexpected fact is that 3D material is distractingly bothered by crosstalk noise. Watch a Sky 3D football match, for instance, and you can see double ghosting around players, the ball and the pitch lines. The amount and aggressiveness of the ghosting varies according, it seems, to the distance from the action of a particular shot, with mid and distance shots being the worst. But it certainly crops up frequently and is always very distracting.

We saw it on every other 3D source too, be it Black Ops in 3D on a PS3, or Monsters Vs Aliens on Blu-ray. And crucially it's much more blatant than it is on any of the 3D plasma TVs we've seen so far.

As we always find, crosstalk makes viewing 3D for more than a few minutes at a time quite tiring, and as such is hardly conducive to watching a full-length 3D movie. This is a shame, as the 47LX6900 does a fine job of 3D in other ways, delivering it with impressive brightness and colour toning. In this respect, it betters the plasma 3D sets - as it also does with respect to 3D shadow detail and sharpness. Except for when crosstalk spoils things...

For all its good 3D work, though, its the crosstalk that ultimately defines its 3D experience.

The 47LX6900's 2D pictures are altogether more watchable. For without the crosstalk in play it's easier to appreciate the screen's many good qualities. Colours are extremely aggressive, for instance, making sure that pictures are explosively attention-grabbing even in a very bright room.

The set's HD pictures are seriously detailed, clear and sharp too, yet not in a forced way. In other words, the detailing isn't accompanied by ringed contours or overt noise.